Wednesday, November 12, 2008

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (A.K.A. the couch)

After a 4 day weekend, I came home from work today and all I wanted was 2 things. Number 1) To lay on the couch all night. Number 2) LET myself lay on the couch all night. I usually run Wednesday night, a mid-week longer slow run. But with the darkness and the intermittent rain, I could not get motivated. I thought the couch was the best thing and I did not want to leave it. So, I started making deals with myself. OK, I'll turn on the TV and if I haven't seen this particular episode of "King of Queens" then I will sit on the couch before I run. I turned on the TV and whoops, I had already seen that episode. Seriously, I have not seen that many episodes of this show so I thought I was playing it safe by making this deal with myself. So, plan B. OK, I have seen this episode, but I really like it, (so I told myself), so I will watch it anyway and then I will go running. When the show was over, I did not think I could tear myself away from the couch. The couch was so inviting and comfortable and warm and dry. But, I did. And this is how I did it. 1) I looked for a sign that I was really doing the right thing by leaving the couch to go running. I got my stuff on and grabbed my iPOD. When I turned it on before leaving the house, the song "I want to be your lover" came on by Prince. Well, obviously this was a sign that I should leave my one lover (couch) for another; running. So check, this was my sign. 2) Look for something different to focus on while running. I did this in 2 ways, (see number 3 for the 2nd). I did a few loops and checked my times for each loop. Earlier, I had talked to Brian Morrison at SRC and we were talking about 12 and 24 hour races where you are literally running a 1 to 1+ mile loop for a given amount of time. We agreed that at first running in circles doesn't sound like the best fun ever, but the idea has potential. The thought of running for a given amount of time to see how far you can go is different and refreshing instead of running a certain distance for time. So, I implemented that thought process on this run. 3) As I was listening to my iPOD, I tried to envision myself singing karaoke to the songs. Why I did this, I have no idea, but it sure did make the time pass. So many songs I would never sing at karaoke. Too much time in between the lyrics. Anyway....after 101 minutes, I was back at my doorstep after a longer slow run. I did it, I overcame the lack of motivation and left my couch. I was really happy I did, as I knew I would be, but it just took some coercing and some mind games. I realise listed here are not 50 ways to get up off the couch to go running in the dark rain, but it's a start. After all, it's just the start of the long dark and rainy month and I am sure I will have more nights like this one.....